Tracking Iowa football kickoffs II (with thoughts)

With today’s announcement of TV kickoffs (UNI and Arizona), we now know seven kickoffs for the Hawkeyes in 2009.

Here’s the list:

Sept. 5 — Northern Iowa (11 a.m., Big Ten Network)

Sept. 12 — @Iowa State (11 a.m., Fox Sports Net)

Sept. 19 — Arizona (2:30 p.m., ABC or ESPN2)

Sept. 26 — @Penn State (7 p.m. ABC or ESPN)

Oct. 3 — Arkansas State (TBA)

Oct. 10 — Michigan (7 p.m. ABC or ESPN)

Oct. 17 — @Wisconsin (11 a.m. ESPN, ESPN2 or Big Ten Network)

Oct. 24 — @Michigan State (6 p.m. BTN))

Oct. 31 — Indiana (TBA)

Nov. 7 — Northwestern (TBA)

Nov. 14 — @Ohio State (TBA)

Nov. 21 — Minnesota (TBA)

Wow, only five kickoffs TBA, with Arkansas State nearly guaranteed for an 11 a.m. And as the UI’s Rick Klatt commented on the last time I brought this up, the Big Ten primetime lineup is finished. So, maybe an Ohio State 2:30? Yeah, that would mean the game means something.

Remember when 2:30 was “primetime” for college football?

Hawkeye thought of the day

So, freshman tight end Anthony Schiavone has come and gone. According to HawkeyeReport.com, the 6-6 tight end has left the program for something closer to his home in Connecticut. Schaivone enrolled early and participated in spring practice.

Just last week, coach Kirk Ferentz weighed in on players coming in early: “Once they get here, they have a pretty full schedule. To me, their last summer is their last summer.” In other words, when you’re here, you’re here, don’t worry about getting here before you need to be.

Did Schiavone’s departure trigger the offer to Ballard’s Austin Vier? It times up, as far as I know, but I don’t think so. My guess is no. Vier’s offer did come quickly last week, during Iowa’s high school camp, but I think he received the offer because coaches’ wanted him at Iowa. I’ll have more on Vier tomorrow. I interviewed him today.

Big Ten thought of the day

Iowa’s legal stuff reared its head again last week with the OWI arrest of OT Kyle Calloway. Great discussion on the linked Calloway post. It’s college, kids drink, dog bites man. There is a certain amount of “breakage.” No college program in a major U-town is going to skate through an academic year with no arrests. Yes, Calloway’s is No. 26 in a way-too-short of timespan, but let’s get real. These are never going to go completely away.

Say what you want about the amount of arrests, but when it’s come to felony arrests, Ferentz has acted decisively. Dominique Douglas and Anthony Bowman were suspended and never returned from credit card fraud, even after the charges were pleaded down to misdemeanors. Bowman made a brief return, but didn’t last. Cedric Everson and Abe Satterfield were off the team before they were officially charged with sexual assault, cases that are unresolved. Arvell Nelson and James Cleveland (another early enrollee who didn’t last) were out before their felony drug arrests were pleaded down.

The door is still open for Ohio State freshman RB Jaamal Berry, who arrived in Columbus with a felony marijuana possession charge hanging on him in his hometown Miami.

OSU is starting him in the program with the legal resolution to determine his future at Ohio State.

It’s easy to trivialize the high school “glory days.” In the grand scheme, it’s a pit stop. But high school football is a rite of passage, of sorts, for millions of teen-age boys across the nation. You learn what you can and can’t do with your body. For a lot of us, it’s the first time in our lives that something is expected of us. You find out things about yourself that are great and not so great. If you take it the right way, you can carry it forever.

I learned that I was selfish. I didn’t value “team” the way I needed to. I made my body fast and strong, but my brain needed 20 or so more years (and could use more time, truth be told).

Your high school football coach puts expectations on you that run out after the last time you take off a helmet. Or do they? Your coach’s expectations stay suspended in your life. Don’t try, do. Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard. Morehouse, wake up (film put me in a coma, sorry coach Weitz). It might be simplistic or naive, but your coach’s expectations are still there, at the base, in the work ethic.

Ed Thomas clearly understood this. Something like 90 percent of the male students at Aplington-Parkersburg go out for football, big and small and fast and slow, doesn’t matter. A-P hasn’t been the dynasty it is because 11 kids do all the work every season. Ed Thomas brought everyone in. He was the face of the town after last May’s killer tornado.

He was a “coach,” in the highest sense of the word.

In football, the weightroom is the family room. You grow there. You kid, push and cheer each other there.

Wednesday, Ed Thomas was murdered there. A father was taken while tending to 30 members of his family.

You can take the notion of “coach” however you want — father, meanie who pushed you or friend. You can hold “coach” close to your heart or in the back of your mind or in your life scrapbook.

Judging by the reaction in the Aplington-Parkersburg community, Ed Thomas was a coach close to a lot of hearts.

Aplington-Parkersburg Head Coach Ed Thomas prays with his team before their substate playoff game against St. Ansgar at Ed Thomas Field in Parkersburg, Iowa on Wednesday October 29, 2008. (Photo: Stephen Mally)

Responses

Marc, an SI blog listed 29 players at OSU have been arrested 35 times (some multiple) since Tressel has been there. Maurice Claret was denied parole last week. And arresting a player in Columbus is a ‘career limiting’ event for a Columbus cop, so alot of this is away from campus.

The Holier Than Thou crowed needs to recognize that the Hawks are not alone with problems.

Regarding the ISU game, will you have to buy a special sports package to see it on FSN? I have DirectTV, but most Fox Sports channels are premium.

By: Pete on June 25, 2009 at 6:57 PM

Pete — Great question on the TV. I would guess yes, so I’d prepare now. I don’t watch a lot of those channels, but I get them, just in case.

By: marcmwm on June 26, 2009 at 12:20 AM

I’m not singling out Tressel/OSU. I’m wondering if someone with a felony charge be allowed into a university/football program. Or stay away until it’s resolved? I don’t know. I can see merit to both, but it ultimately reflects on the institution.

By: marcmwm on June 26, 2009 at 12:23 AM

Unfortunately, I think the answer to your question about suiting up a felony suspect is straightforward.

If the university let’s a felony suspect go to class, and they do, it’s hard to call them student-athletes if they can’t play, as well.

My personal opinion is that colleges have lost their way in regard to personal behavior standards. There would be much less confusion and conflict if kids who screwed up were just sent home for a year. Under in loco parentis, that is what happened. But I’m the bluenose on that subject, and it will never happen (again).

By: Bellanca on June 26, 2009 at 8:16 PM

When did universities lose that power (if that’s even the right word)? It would expedite so much of the “process” that gums up U systems, which also was a major problem with the Everson-Satterfield cases. Bureaucracy cluttered and maimed what should have been a decisive and logical action.

I’m softer on this, but I also value logic. To me, a student can’t be on a campus with a felony hanging over his head. Not on the campus, much less the football team. Take the decision out of admissions and the athletics departement and put it in university code.